What follows is a series of practical milestones and ways of learning which outline the route through medical study at Michigan today. Additional, detailed information is available about the curriculum, uses of technology, degrees and programs, the admissions process — and much more on the Medical School’s Web site.
August
First-year students, or M1s, arrive in Ann Arbor for orientation.
Students attend the White Coat Ceremony, an event at which the physicians-to-be receive their white lab coats; the event officially welcomes students to the University of Michigan Medical School and inducts them into the study of medicine.
September
Students meet patients for the first time as they are introduced to the family they will follow as part of the Family Centered Experience. Students are assigned in pairs and will continue the experience into their third year.
Small groups of 10-12 students, facilitated by a clinical faculty member, are established to share experiences from the Family Centered Experience and other longitudinal cases, guided by specific themes — for instance, the stigma of illness. These groups, too, extend into the third year.
Patients and Populations, which includes genetics, evidence-based medicine and epidemiology, is the first course in medical study. M1s and M2s are graded on a pass/fail basis for all courses. Over the course of the M1 year, students will study the anatomy, physiology and histology of each of the body’s systems in sequence.
Clinical Week modules, known as Clinical Foundations in Medicine, are scheduled between body sequences to introduce students to basic clinical skills and focus on development of communication skills. The modules include clinical observations, hands-on physical examination skills, patient demonstrations, and topic-based small group discussions that include professionalism and the doctor/patient relationship.
Online streaming video of all lectures is available to students within one hour of the actual lecture, replacing the Phi Chi note-taking service used by so many classes before and illustrating the efficiency technology is bringing to medical education. Un-proctored exams are taken online.
In groups of six, M1s begin the year-long process of cadaver dissection, with computer-based instruction at each station. Peer-learning is an important component of the experience.
A memorial service is held and attended by students from all class years to honor anatomical donors and their crucial role in medical study.
October
M1s are introduced to the clinical setting through three clinic site visits — one to a complementary/alternative medicine clinic, one with a senior citizen focus, and one to a standard clinic — in order to observe patient-physician interactions. During the M2 year, each student also will visit his or her faculty facilitator’s clinic.
Throughout all four years, students interact with “standardized patients,” volunteers who play the scripted part of a patient in a clinical setting, allowing students to gain experience in assessment, history-taking, treatment recommendations and follow-up. Communication skills are emphasized in these interactions.
December
In a tradition spanning more than 80 years, Galens Medical Society members, easily identifiable in red ponchos, collect donations on Ann Arbor street corners on Galens Tag Days to raise funds — tens of thousands of dollars annually — for local charities that support children, including programs at the U-M C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
March
Upholding another long tradition known as the Galens Smoker, Galens Medical Society members from all four class years write and perform in an original play, a ribald and irreverent parody of the medical school experience.
May
First-year students get a summer break. Many engage in basic science, translational or clinical research at the U-M, other academic centers or with national and international organizations such as the World Health Organization. Other students participate in international humanitarian service experiences assisting underserved populations in places like Peru, Egypt and Belize. Still others shadow local physicians in their home towns and/or work to fund their educational expenses.
Students avail themselves of career courses and counseling through all four years of medical study.
September
Groups of six students form to work closely with a clinical mentor to refine clinical skills, including physical examination and history-taking. Groups stay together through the end of the second year.
February
Students must pass a clinical skills exam in order to move forward as M3s.
March
M2s spend half of March and all of April preparing for and taking the Step 1 exam, the first of three exams which comprise the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
Students create interpretive representations, through painting, poetry, dance and other creative means, of the Family Centered Experience. All families participating in the FCE are invited to a spring reception to see the projects.
M3s and M4s receive Honors/High Pass/Pass grades for all coursework, rather than pass/fail.
Clerkships, a sequence of seven clinical rotations, are completed in the following specialties: family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery.
Students gain practical clinical experience with patient simulators in the Clinical Simulation Center.
M3s reunite with their Family Centered Experience and longitudinal cases group. The peer group, along with faculty mentor/advisor, also allows students to discuss the transition to the clerkships and their responsibilities and functions in the hospital.
Students explore residency options. Applications to residency programs are made during summer and fall of the 4th year.
Residency interviewing begins as early as September and continues through January.
M4s complete two four-week sub-internships, a higher level of responsibility than third-year clerkships, in internal medicine, surgery, family medicine and other disciplines. Students also complete rotations in emergency medicine and intensive care.
Advanced Medical Therapeutics, an online course, challenges students to determine correct treatments in a wide variety of situations. Online delivery is important, since students are traveling and interviewing for residency programs during this time.
Students take the USMLE. They must first pass a 12-station performance-based assessment of critical clinical skills, called the M4 Comprehensive Clinical Assessment.
March
Across the country, M4s learn on Match Day which residency programs they’ll begin upon completion of medical school.
May
A new class of University of Michigan physicians graduates into the world of medicine.
